My Booknotes on Edward E. Smith

In this early-60s yet still rather noir detective novel, Ty and Babe
agree that "Dolly" (Dorothy) can "go to the wars" with them when
she's trained enough as a fighter. Even before that, they actually
listen to her ideas (not just her knowledge), and they argue with
her as if she's worth arguing with. She's officially in charge of
the company after she invests in it, but quite late in the book it
does say that at bottom everybody knows that Ty is still running the
agency (he started it, and he was an intelligence agent in the war,
so he's probably the best qualified to run it, really).

So, this is (among other things) an example of that male feminism
that does, at least, manage to take the females seriously even in
male roles. Dolly does get good enough to go to the wars
with them; in her final exam (where she only has to not be
out-killed 2:1) she actually fights Ty to an even draw (neither
kills the other; and the exam gets called off when
they both get so focused (and killer instinct takes over)
that they're actually a danger to each other). And Ty, far from
saying he wasn't fighting as hard as he could, says afterwards that
he thinks it's probably the best he's ever fought.

Still, much later, in a meeting at the German restaurant they sneak
off to, Dolly and Ty are conferring with Roger Stone and his
wife—and it says here the men talked business while the women
appreciated the fine service. Roger Stone's wife is a retired
detective and not involved in the case, but Dolly is the head of the
agency and actively working on the case. Ty points out a couple of
places that it was actually Dolly's ideas that broke various parts
of the case for them.

Sneaking off to that German restaurant for secure conferences is not
well done. While being very careful about possibly tapped phones,
they travel in a chaufered Cadillac. Now, as I undersand it, the
odds of a livery service driver in New York in the 60s knowing
mobsters was really high. And Lieutenant Stone was the
obvious person for Ty to contact on the police there. So far as we
know, nobody knew Ty's cover identity, so they wouldn't be watching
his hotel, but that limo picked up Stone at home on multiple
occasions. Doesn't seem smart.

Babe is described both as French, and as a former FBI man. This
seems highly unlikely. Also, nothing is said about formal training
in accounting or law (needed for the FBI, right?). And his age plus
his time in Intelligence make it just not work out. Copy-editor
should have queried this! (Yeah, I know, published posthumously.)